AGORA Basic Course: Module 1. Background, partners, eligibility, use, copyright
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Agora is an online portal established by the FAO and publishers to provide free or low-cost access to scientific literature in agriculture and related fields, serving thousands of institutions worldwide. The program aims to improve education, food security, and research quality, with eligibility based on GNI and HDI criteria for institutions in qualifying countries. Users must register to access full-text articles, and must adhere to specific copyright and usage guidelines.
AGORA Basic Course: Module 1. Background, partners, eligibility, use, copyright
- 1. Background, partners, eligibility, use, copyright AGORA Basic Course: Module 1
- 2. What is AGORA? Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture •An Internet based portal, launched in 2003 •Set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) together with major publishers •Provides free or low cost access to major scientific journals in agriculture and related biological, environmental and social sciences
- 3. More on AGORA Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture •Several thousand institutions are registered from over one hundred countries. •AGORA has more than 5700 journals and 4100 books from more than 230 publishers •Full-text coverage from 1997 onward in most cases AGORA is one of the four programmes that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE and ARDI.
- 4. AGORA Objectives • Increase access to high-quality, relevant literature in agriculture • Improve the quality and effectiveness of education and training • Improve food security • Improve research in agriculture and related sciences
- 5. Partners Key Publishers • Elsevier • Springer • Wiley • Sage • Taylor & Francis • Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins • BioOne • Oxford University Press • Nature Publishing • Other science/technical/ medical publishers Programme Partners • World Health Organization • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations • United Nations Environment Programme • World Intellectual Property Organization • International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers • Yale University Library • Cornell University Mann Library • National Library of Medicine • Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa • Librarians Without Borders®/MLA
- 7. Who is eligible for R4L Programmes
- 8. Eligibility Overview • 107 countries and territories qualify • Institutions in the public sector or with a not- for-profit status qualify for free access to the full-text articles in AGORA’s online collection. • Institutions must register (just once) to receive a username and password • Check with your librarian to receive the username and password that gives you full access to AGORA and full-text articles
- 9. Country Eligibility Overview • As of 01 January 2015, institutions in countries with GNI (gross national income) per capita below $1600 or HDI (human development index) less than 0.63 are eligible for free access (Group A) – 78 countries • Institutions in countries with GNI per capita between $1601 - $5000 or HDI less than 0.67 pay a fee of $1500 per year (Group B) – 28 countries • Some publishers opt out of this option and do not allow access to their journals
- 10. Institution Eligibility Overview • All AGORA users may browse collection and journal abstracts without log in. (You may still have full-text access through the AGORA website if your institutions subscribe to the journals.) • To view, download and print the full-text articles, users must be registered and must login first • Login may only be done by registered institutions • Students, faculty and staff at eligible, registered institutions can access full-text articles and other AGORA resources.
- 11. AGORA: User Agreement • All registered institutions will sign a User Agreement covering: – Use of the AGORA password – Copyright and Fair Use • Agreement shall be available in the Library
- 12. Copyright and Fair Use • Same as typical copyright and fair use principles: It is OK, for example, to: – Download or print up to 15% of a journal issue or book – Use material for educational purposes (course packs or reserves) – Make copies for institution members or students • Always credit sources • Be cautious but sensible
- 13. Use of the AGORA Password Do Share the institution’s R4L usernames and passwords with: – Authorized Users: an institution’s employee, permanent or visiting faculty or student – Walk-in Users: anyone who comes to the institution’s premises and is permitted by the institution to access services there
- 14. Abuse of Privileges • Do Not share usernames and passwords with those from outside the institution • Do Not supply documents to individuals or organizations outside the registered institution • Do Not charge a fee for supplying documents except to recover cost of printing • Do Not change content • Do Not use R4L programmes when outside the country
- 15. Abuse of Privileges: Do Not • Upload or post the material to a publicly available website or elsewhere • Post usernames and passwords to websites or blogs that are publically accessible • Download all articles from a single issue • Violations result in the INSTITUTION or ENTIRE country being denied access until the problem is resolved.
- 16. Types of Electronic Journals • Academic – Refereed journals – Review journals – Bulletins • Non-academic – Magazines – Newspapers
- 17. Refereed journals • Example: Journal of Animal Science • Used to: • disseminate research findings • find out about research by others in your field • identify methodologies for your own work • Features • written by and aimed at researchers and experts • articles always cite sources • peer reviewed • Strengths/weaknesses • high-quality, reliable information • may be slow to be published due to review process • often fee-based access/may be available via AGORA
- 19. Review journals • Example: Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries • Features: • reviews give an overview of the current literature in a specific research area or discipline • titles usually contain ‘Review’, ‘Reviews’, ‘Advances in’, ‘Current opinion in’, ‘Progress in’, ‘Trends in’ • have already done much of the literature searching for you • may be available via AGORA
- 21. Bulletins • Example: None (as R4L Programmes have Peer Reviewed Journals, and Bulletins do not qualify) • Used for: • making announcements to a specific audience • up-to-date information in a very specific area • Features • written by in-house staff, or staff writers • may be issued as required, sometimes intermittently • contain short reports • Strengths/weaknesses • very up-to-date • standard very variable
- 22. Non-academic resources • Magazines – entertainment, information about popular culture, product information – easy to read, entertaining, information is lightweight and not always reliable • Newspapers – up-to-the minute information, current affairs, debate – can be valuable sources of certain kinds of information but inherent problems of all newspapers
- 23. Exercises This is the end of the AGORA Basic Course Module 1. Exercises for this module are available after Module 2. Please continue with AGORA Basic Course Module 2: Searching Skills; Evaluating Web Sites Updated February 2015
Editor's Notes
- #2: This module is part of the AGORA Basic Course. The AGORA Basic Course highlights the baseline skills necessary to use the AGORA programme effectively and efficiently. This presentation is accompanied by an exercises document that corresponds to what is covered in each key section of the course. There are two versions of this course. The 1st version is the traditional instructional version – a lecture with hands-on activities. The 2nd is a distance learning course that aims to reach individuals who cannot attend regular workshops. In this version, the exercises are sent to a grader who reviews and critiques the answers. Also, the notes at the bottom of each slide cover what would be said by the presenter. The AGORA programme (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture), set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to an outstanding digital library collection in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA provides a collection of more than 5700 key journals and 4100 books to 2800 institutions in more than 100 countries. AGORA is designed to enhance the scholarship of the many thousands of students, faculty and researchers in agriculture and life sciences in the developing world. AGORA is one of the four programmes that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE and ARDI. The AGORA Basic Course (2015) is based on the AGORA Short Course, a collaborative effort of ITOCA and the Librarians Without Borders®/Medical Library Association (USA) ‘E-library Training Initiative’ that was funded by the Elsevier Foundation.
- #3: Like Yahoo, AGORA is an Internet gateway to a collection of resources (bibliographic databases, electronic journals, search engines and other Internet portals) created by other organizations. It is not a stand-alone resource with one look like TEEAL, but a gateway to a variety of resources that will help you find citations, retrieve the full-text, search for more information on agricultural and related topics, and help you keep up with current research. Though AGORA provides access to these resources, it does not control their form or function.
- #4: Like Yahoo, AGORA is an Internet gateway to a collection of resources (bibliographic databases, electronic journals, search engines and other Internet portals) created by other organizations. It is not a stand-alone resource with one look like TEEAL, but a gateway to a variety of resources that will help you find citations, retrieve the full-text, search for more information on agricultural and related topics, and help you keep up with current research. Though AGORA provides access to these resources, it does not control their form or function.
- #6: AGORA is a public-private partnership sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Each partner contributes to a different aspect of AGORA. The complete list can be reviewed at http://agora.aginternetwork.org/content/en/partners.php The partners meet at regular intervals to determine how the programmes work and develop. Feedback from the participating institutions contributes significantly to the development of the programme: agora@fao.org
- #7: For further information on all four programmes, go to the URL listed at the top of this slide. Each programme has the same eligibility but your institution must register for each programme separately. Image source: www.research4life.org
- #8: 2015 R4L eligibility map. Image source: www.research4life.org
- #9: As is noted in the slide, remember to check with your Librarian first - to find out if your institution is registered. Registration is free for qualifying institutions and is done on the AGORA website www.aginternetwork.net Each institution receives 1 username and password. AGORA will not accept individual registrations. The registration process will be discussed later in the course.
- #11: Any public or Not for profit institution in qualifying countries is eligible to register for AGORA. Such registration enables access to full-text articles, databases and other resources. These articles can be read online, downloaded for offline storage or even be printed within reasonable limits. Here it is important to understand the concept of reasonable and ethical use of the resources as abuse can lead to an institution being suspended from the programme.
- #12: The Librarian or any other responsible person can adopt this version of the user agreement and put it in simpler terms that users can understand. Some institutions make users sign a shorter version of the user-agreement as a way of ensuring adherence to copyright and avoiding abuse of the resource.
- #14: As with any resource, there are certain rules for its usage. Within a registered institution, you are encouraged to share the password with other members of the institution and to make free use of it at your home site (however, passwords must not be displayed on the institution’s website as it is accessible outside the institution). Please be aware though, that you must access AGORA from your home institution only (although this can be done with personally owned laptops). Also, AGORA cannot be used outside the home country.
- #17: What type of Information does the Internet contain? Bibliographic Information in the form of Library catalogs Multimedia – Audio, Video and graphical sources of information . Reference tools such as Encyclopedias, Dictionaries , Handbooks and others. Journals, Newspapers & Magazines, and Databases
- #18: Electronic academic journals are nearly the same as traditional print academic journals that we are all familiar with and serve the same purposes of disseminating information, etc. So this slide does not need much explanation. But the electronic medium does give the chance of journals getting a much wider audience.
- #19: Image source: Journal of Animal Science
- #20: These kinds of resources are very useful IF there are journals available in your subject area – they often provide an excellent set of links and references to the latest and most important information in a subject or area.
- #21: Image source: Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries
- #22: Useful for keeping up to date with recent developments, what is available, where it can be found, etc. Features written by in-house staff, or staff writers aimed at a specific membership – e.g. employees, members of a professional body, club members etc may be issued as required, sometimes intermittently contain short reports Strengths/weaknesses very up-to-date standard very variable depending on the bulletin and its target audience
- #23: These kinds of resources may be less relevant to librarians but are still worth knowing about.